Looks like this division is the Detroit Tigers' to lose.
KC is an up and coming team and could make some noise very soon.
Minnesota has Gardenhire......and Mauer.
Cleveland showed they could play with the big boys for a while last year until dropping out of contention. (Might have been different if they would've been healthy.)
Chicago has many new faces .

Kind of what I'm thinking. Haven't seen ONE person yet who thinks we don't take it, including most fans of the other Central teams. I like having high expectations but it's gonna scare me until they actually clinch.

They have Jonathon Broxton to close granted he plucked Cespades today to blow it but Danny Duffy and Luke Hochevar are really young starting pitchers that seemed to get in a grove in September.

Today showed that the Tigers have a weakness in suspect pitching from everyone minus Justin Verlander. Valverde has yet to complete a scoreless inning his two apperances and have no one to give the ball to in the middle innings.

However the KC Royals just are not ready yet to take the big step. You have to walk before you run... overcoming losing seasons in 17 of the last 18 years. This year is their stepping stone to the big stage

"Our objective is simple, to make the great state of Ohio proud" Urban F. Meyer

They have Jonathon Broxton to close granted he plucked Cespades today to blow it but Danny Duffy and Luke Hochevar are really young starting pitchers that seemed to get in a grove in September.

Today showed that the Tigers have a weakness in suspect pitching from everyone minus Justin Verlander. Valverde has yet to complete a scoreless inning his two apperances and have no one to give the ball to in the middle innings.

However the KC Royals just are not ready yet to take the big step. You have to walk before you run... overcoming losing seasons in 17 of the last 18 years. This year is their stepping stone to the big stage

Valverde had a scoreless inning the first game of the Tampa series. Besides, yesterday was all on Verlander. He just blew it in the 9th.

I agree on the rest though. There's a lot of questions with the pitching right now. Will Porcello step up? Will good Scherzer show up more than bad Scherzer? How long will Fister be out? Will Smyly or Wilk be any good? If these all end up with negative answers I'm actually worried. The offense can't keep up the pace they've been on, no matter how good they are.

The Royals once they learn to win are going to be scary for a while. But that's at least a year away.

. Besides, yesterday was all on Verlander. He just blew it in the 9th.

Now hold on that was not entirely his fault. Yes he "gave" up all four runs but really only 2. Schlereth came in one with one job to get the lefty out and he walks him. Then Valverde gives up a hit that scores two. the blame is not entirely on Verlander. As a team the offense can't keep pace but there is no way they all slump at the same time like the Indians currently are. The Tigers have the firepower to win the division.

"Our objective is simple, to make the great state of Ohio proud" Urban F. Meyer

Now hold on that was not entirely his fault. Yes he "gave" up all four runs but really only 2. Schlereth came in one with one job to get the lefty out and he walks him. Then Valverde gives up a hit that scores two. the blame is not entirely on Verlander. As a team the offense can't keep pace but there is no way they all slump at the same time like the Indians currently are. The Tigers have the firepower to win the division.

I'm just saying, that's a situation that Verlander 95% of the time finishes off. Not saying he's not allowed to have a bad inning here or there, or even take a loss. It's bound to happen. But he lost control in the 9th, tried to overpower the hitters, and that was the beginning of the loss.

Schlereth has absolutely no use on this team, all he ever does is walk the one guy he comes in to face. As for Valverde, he's in the same boat as Verlander. He was so good last year I think we just don't know how to handle it when he actually struggles. Both will be just fine. Helps that the team is 5-1 and this is the only loss to debate right now.

Was at the game yesterday....without a doubt it was the right move to leave Verlander in there for the 9th. He had only thrown 88 pitches at that point, and was still flirting with damn near 100 on every fastball(he did end up with 3 straight 98/99/99 pitches), but will be fine and win the Central pretty easily imo.

The rest of the central is pretty weak, and the Indians aren't going to be the world killers some people I've seen have projected them to be imo, just not enough hitting or depth.

Detroit's problem is that they need solid bullpen help(what is up with Valverde?), but should play itself out fine during the course of the season because they have more than enough hitting to get by(esp if the rumor about them getting V-Mart back for the playoffs is true.)

No the Indians are not. A struggling offense that has to resort to Johnny Damon being brought in. Bullpen with questionable decising making Wheeler and Asencio over Accardo and Hagadone. Plus the decisions to send guys to AAA to keep them under contract longer... Chisenhall, LaPorta, and Crowe all could help this team. But $$$ is more important than talent as long as the Dolans run this team

"Our objective is simple, to make the great state of Ohio proud" Urban F. Meyer

Def not arguing with the decision to bring JV back out. It was the right decision 100% of the time considering he had only thrown 81 pitches. He just lost it(with help) in the 9th. Out of 30+ starts, you can't expect that to happen more than once or twice.

I also don't see a problem with the bullpen. They're 5-0 with a 3.22 ERA. Balester, Coke, Below, and Dotel have all given solid innings. Benoit gave up those runs against Boston, but you can't be great every game. And Valvere is just one of those pitchers. He'll have his games where he gets hit hard and can't throw strikes, but all in all he'll be really good. Really we got lucky he went 49 for 49 last year...I expected and was actually happy to see him blow one early. Now he needs to just settle down and get in a rhythm. But why Schlereth is on the team I don't know.

I really thought Cleveland would be the biggest competition but it's not looking good for them already. It's early but that offense will struggle all season. Minnesota is terrible. It's down to Chicago and KC for any competition at all, but I think we're too good and too balanced to not win the division by at least 10 games. And I'm being generous there. Great sign beating Boston and Tampa 5 of 6 to start the season, bodes well for October already.